Over the years, since HypnotismPower.com, operated by Astral Delta Sdn Bhd, the first Hypnotism company in Malaysia, had served to instill awareness and dispelling the misconception of hypnotism, by actively and unrelentlessly giving public, private & corporate talks and demos, apart from our special regular training courses. Through word of mouth, it's efficacies and impact led us to a continuous stream of invitations to speak at numerous meets and venues of Rotary/Lion clubs, societies, associations, hospitals, as well as the Olympic Council.

In the process, we caught the attention of the media, so lo and behold, news galore, in the premier national tabloids and magazines, on TV and on air. Here are some of the more important articles.

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Tuesday, April 3, 2007 The Star, LifeStyle
A Powerful Tool

Hypnosis is all around us. In fact, we have been hypnotised from the day we were born, says a hypnotherapist.

by Michael Cheang, cschuin@thestar.com.my

PICTURE in your mind, a lemon. Yes, a nice, big, juicy lemon. Now imagine that you’re cutting the lemon, with the juice squirting out. Then, imagine separating the lemon into halves, with the juice still dripping out.

Next, imagine you are holding the lemon above your mouth and squeezing the juice into your mouth, and tasting the tangy, freshly-squeezed lemon juice as it flows down your throat ...

Did you feel saliva collecting in your mouth? Did you unconsciously swallow your saliva as you imagined that scenario?

Well, if you did, congratulations, you’ve just been hypnotised. Well, sort of.

That little trick is just one of the exercises that professional hypnotherapist Goh Chooi Chin uses to demonstrate the power of hypnotism, which is actually the science of auto-suggestion.

“At the mere suggestion of you swallowing that (imaginary) sour lemon juice, your mind sends signals to your saliva glands which were working overtime to produce the saliva that you swallowed. That, in a way, is hypnotism,” she says.

Goh Chooi Chin: ‘Hypnosis is all around us – it pervades our consciousness at all times.’

Science of The Mind

So what exactly is hypnotism? According to the definition on Goh’s website (www.hypnotismpower.com), hypnosis is a state of altered consciousness that occurs normally in every person just before the sleep state. When you learn self-hypnosis, you will be able to prolong that normally brief interlude, and work within its bounds.

Hypnosis allows a person direct access into his sub-conscious mind (the area that processes emotions), and “reprogramme” the sub-conscious mind’s perceptions to enable it to perform at a higher level.

Put simply, the human mind is like a computer – it only works with certain installed software that becomes obsolete as we get older, so we have to get rid of the old software and instal new ones.

A hypnotist is trained in the rules of the mind, to form suggestions, and to force the sub-conscious mind to accept new “programming”.,

“Hypnosis is all around us – it pervades our consciousness at all times. We’ve been hypnotised from the day we were born,” says Goh.

She explains that everyone is born without a conscious mind, so all the suggestions that came from our parents go straight into our “programming”. So all sorts of hypnotic suggestions have been inputted into our minds without our realising it.

“As children, we absorb thoughts and suggestions very easily. However, when we grow up and gain complete consciousness, it forms a wall that traps all the bad habits we’ve learnt, inside.,

“Therefore, you have to get a hypnotist to crack the wall, and shock the nervous system into giving way so we can get access to the sub-conscious mind.”

Although she is one of the pioneers in hypnotherapy in Malaysia, Goh did not set out to become a hypnotherapist. A graphic designer by qualification, she spent years in the advertising industry, before moving on to set up her own video production company.

“That period of time was very stressful for me, and the deadlines were always yesterday. As a result (of the stress), I suffered from insomnia for eight years. I searched everywhere for a cure, and then discovered hypnotism. I’ve been sleeping like a baby ever since!”

Curious about this wonderful cure for her insomnia, Goh decided to find out more, and ended up being trained by American celebrity hypnotist Dr Gil Boyne.

Goh came back to Malaysia and started her own practice in 1994. She is a certified hypnotherapist with the National Guild of Hypnotists, Merrimack, New Hampshire, United States. She is also the international chapter representative for Malaysia & Wales, for that guild.

Today, Goh is a permanent resident in Britain. She travels around the world giving talks and teaching people about self-hypnotism. Goh was back in Malaysia recently, where she conducted several courses on self-hypnotism.

An exercise at one of hypnotherapist Goh Chooi Chin's self-hypnosis classes – causing a participant to become ‘rubbery’.

Self-Hypnosis Classes

In her classes, Goh teaches participants to persuade their subconscious mind to accept new suggestions.

“I teach the participants to be ‘software engineers’ of their own minds – to instal new software in their minds and chuck out the old ones.”

Participants in her classes range from ages 16 to 90. Goh reckons everyone should learn about hypnotism. “Self-hypnotism is a very powerful tool, and my classes are very intensive. I cram it all in within two days,” she said.

One of the most iconic images of hypnotism, especially in the movies, is that of the hypnotist swinging a pendulum in front of the subject’s eyes, and chanting, “You’re getting sleepy ... Very, very sleepy ...”, and then proceeding to order the poor hypnotised fellow to perform all manner of foul deeds.

According to Goh, this is a very common misconception about hypnotism.

“Many people fear hypnotism because they think they will be completely zapped out of consciousness, and can be hypnotised into giving people their wallets or killing someone. That is a myth.”

In her classes Goh usually demonstrates the power of hypnosis by hypnotising participants to become rigid “human bridges” or turning them into soft ”rubber men”. Goh stresses that a hypnotist can never force a hypnotised subject into doing something that is against that person’s principles.

“There is no risk of a hypnotist trying to hypnotise a subject into doing anything he doesn’t want to. If the hypnotist should say anything that is against the moral values or code of ethics of the subject, he will immediately snap out of it because it would create resistance within his mind. Everyone has this sense of self-preservation in his sub-conscious mind. This prevents us from getting into trouble,” she explains.

IT would be asking too much, really, to see as benefactors those people who drive us to anger. Yet a recent talk on spirituality in Kuala Lumpur suggested otherwise - and convincingly too, writes P.C. SHIVADAS.

TRY coming to grips with this idea: Your soul mate is actually the person whom you can hardly stand! Goh Chooi Chin, a Malaysian hypno- therapist now living in Wales, explains this conflict: "People with whom we agree and share similar interests are easy to accept and actually teach us very little.

"But those who push our buttons and send us into a rage at the slightest provocation are our real teachers." Goh, in Kuala Lumpur on a visit, was addressing the Interfaith Spiritual Fellowship gathering at Pure Life Society on `Entering the Golden age, the age of spiritual intelligence'.

"They are reminding you that you are not truly in the state of peace and enlightenment that comes from trust. You want to treasure and thank God for sending them into your life." They are master teachers and come in the form of children, spouses (current or former), irritating neighbours, co-workers and obnoxious strangers who let us know in what areas we have not mastered ourselves.

Goh was shedding light (she calls herself a "light-worker" or "consciousness activist") on spirituality and various aspects of it.

Those who recognise this side of themselves know their real identities to be that of a limitless, eternal and universal energy temporarily residing in a body.

"That energy is within you. When you tune into it, you leave the limitations of the earth plane and enter a dimension of limitlessness.

"At this level, your loosen your emotional attachment to what you view as your reality and come to the conclusion that it is your thoughts that are, in reality, the source of your physical world." The purpose of life is thus about aligning with and attaining the spiritual realm from which all living entities are born. It calls for practising pure, unconditional love through thoughts, words and actions.

For a long time, the emphasis was on Intelligence Quotient (IQ). Then, came the added level of Emotional Quotient (EQ).

Now, there is mounting recognition of a third level - Spiritual Quotient (SQ).

People operating at the third level are driven by a hunger for deep change in their lives - to have less stress, better health and greater harmony with nature and everything in it.

Such people can be called "cultural creatives" because they are establishing a new lifestyle, a new culture.

It was a label given by social trend researchers Paul H. Ray and Sherry Ruth Anderson.

The two reckon that 55 million North Americans and 90 million Europeans had already embraced this lifestyle and growing numbers elsewhere too indicate a fundamental shift in thinking.

They have found expression in post-World War II social movements of civil rights, environment, women's rights, peace, social justice, alternative health care, organic food, personal growth and socially- responsible business practices.

While the world today is witnessing millions dying and suffering from man-made and natural disasters, the big question is whether anything can be done about them.

S

uffering must be seen as purification, like grain being separated from chaff. As long as there is no learning from mistakes, suffering will go on.

"To survive in such situations provides a true test of our wisdom, resilience and spiritual strength," said Goh.

"The survivors will be the human race of the New Golden Age, those equipped with SQ." SQ is about an awareness of cosmic consciousness, the primordial infinitesimal universal source of energy that creates and permeates all life forms and provides genetic coding and the DNA blueprint.

It is that which animates life and which people tend to forget.

How did people know they are being spiritually intelligent? The answer is when they become aware of universal consciousness and the universal law of cause and effect. Also, when the necessity for being good, loving and able to co-exist in peace and unity with others is understood.

Those who lack such understanding harbour ego- based anger, frustration and jealousy that often lead to conflict, war and destruction.

Goh also spoke of her desire to build a sanctuary in a yet-to-be- identified site for spiritual development and she gave her audience a peek into her concept through a multi-media presentation.

To be ready by 2015, it will feature futuristic buildings that incorporates old designs such as pyramids to tap cosmic energy. A spa will provide holistic healing and allow guests to enjoy summer during winter.

Spiritual leaders and gurus will regularly give discourses that would be posted on the worldwide web live, without charge.

Vegetarianism will be promoted - all in the name of tuning people to their spiritual self in order to survive in a turbulent world.

"I had this idea for a long time and didn't know how to present it until I took a course in multi-media," said Goh.

Roughly estimating the cost at US$300 million, funding for the project is big on her next agenda.

She spoke of others of like mind who had things going in a similar direction, confirmation for her that it was an idea whose time had come.

Forty-plus enlightening souls from 9 nations took part in the first Silver Dove Congress at the Chiangmai Garden Hotel, February 14-19. Topics ranged from healing, hypnosis, birth, therapy and fasting to yoga, astrology and, not least, peace. One of many high points was an outstanding presentation of hypnotism by Goh Chooi Chin of Malaysia, who took ‘Good Morning Chiangmai’ correspondent Rachel Flower into a state where she rigidly lay between two chairs with someone sitting on her waist. More information comes from organiser Katharina Bless on (tel.) 297407 and a more detailed report appears next month. Edward Rose www.chiangmai-online.com/gmcm/03-2000/news-cm.html

Hypnosis delves into the subconscious to help a person solve his problems. For problems that are not too deep-rooted, one can apply self-hypnosis to alleviate them, reports KAMALIA ABDULLAH.

What does it feel like to be terrified of lightning, dirt or flying? The trauma the individual undergoes affects not only him but also the family-as a unit when members experience feelings of helplessness and misery as they watch the victim suffer.

Goh Chooi Chin, a hypnotherapist, has helped many victims overcome such crippling fears. "Most of them are hanging on to a mental boundary with only a thin line keeping them from going over the edge. That is why I feel good when I'm able to pull such people back and make them value life," she says.

Goh's introduction to hypnotherapy began with her search for a cure for insomnia. 'I was at my wit's end as I had tried everything and still could not find a cure for it. I prayed to God that if a solution to my problems was shown, I would share it with others," she adds

"Hypnotherapy was the answer and it is this powerful tool that I am sharing with others to help over-come their problems. For me it is like a calling because I realise that this is what I have to do in this life."

Goh's soft, soothing voice permeates the atmosphere in the tungsten lamp-lit room as she speaks: IF it is not too deep-rooted a phobia, one can learn self-hypnosis to alleviate one's problem." She says one of her clients used to fear flying but after just two hypnotherapy sessions was able to go out and board an aircraft. This woman used to go into convulsion each time she entered an airplane and the crew would have to hold her down as she felt a deep urge to break the windows of the plane.

Goh, a certified member of the Florida Society of Professional Hypnotherapists and a Board-certified member of the US National Board of Hypnosis Education and Certification, conducts courses on hypnotism for the public regularly.

Others she has helped include a man who suffered from insomnia and a woman who feared going out alone. Goh relates the story of another client with a fear of dirt who would spend hours taking her bath and washing her hands. "She used to spend about two hours in the bathroom, and another hour after that to wash her hands an use up the whole tissue roll to wipe herself," she says. "Her family was frustrated with her behaviour and started telling her she was sick and needed to be committed."

She says the approach is wrong. "The subconscious mind is like that of a six-year-old child," she says. "It is pure and non-judgemental and it is receptive to suggestions as the subconscious mind is open in the company of trusted people.

"So you can imagine the disaster when this lady was surrounded by people she loved telling her she was crazy. When I saw the woman, I talked to the family as well to get their co-operation. When they understood how the mind works, they changed their attitude." Now, this lady only takes 30 minutes for her bath and washes her hands in five minutes.

Phobias are caused by traumas which occurred earlier in life. In treatment, the hypnotherapist will help the sufferer regress to the phase when the trauma occurred. "It is usually brought on my fear and guilt which intervene in a negative way. We have to analyse why they feel guilty and what has reduced them to such a wreck and help them come to terms with their faults."

Goh says hypnotism is not only for overcoming phobias but also to get rid of stress-related problems such as depression, anxiety, anger tantrums, tension headaches and even bereavement. "Self-hypnosis also helps those who want to maximise their strengths to achieve their full potential.

"We conduct courses for corporations in pursuit of increased productivity and these are targeted at people from CEOs right through to entrepreneurs, athletes, students and housewives who want a better quality of life." Using hypnotism, one can also motivate oneself at work and build self-confidence and competence.

On weekends, Goh conducts self-hypnosis courses, teaching people self-help in "self-directed change". Some weekends are reserved for "hypno-motivation" courses for corporations. These in-house courses are a powerful boost to the human resource development environment.

If your are a chain-smoker or are not able to control your excessive eating habits, hypnotherapy or self-hypnosis can help. Goh says although some psychologists assets that non-licensed hypnotherapists "represent a threat to public health and safety", there has never been a documented case of harm resulting from the use of hypnosis. "The hypnotic state is no less dangerous than that of the sleep state. IT is a voluntary state. It is not possible to force someone or oneself into hypnosis.

"One needs to be deeply relaxed and free from tension, fear and nervousness as distractions keep the conscious mind active and prevent one from entering the hypnotic state. "Each time you read a book, or watch TV, you are in a state of self-hypnotism. Because self-therapy comes from within, most people can help themselves after learning the art."

Goh is also a video producer and the creative director/partner of Digiart Productions Sdn Bhd which produces scripts for corporate videos. Her calm disposition and stress-free face are testimony to the benefits she is reaping from practicing self-hypnosis daily. "It only takes a few minutes to practice self-hypnosis with meditation or 'hypno-meditation'. When I am in meditation under hypnosis, I visualise a white light from a divine source entering my body and I feel revitalised and recharged."

(Chooi-Chin Goh now lives in the UK)

From Depression To A Life In Business

The following are accounts by two people who have attended a course on self-hypnotism.

Call one of them Suzie, 48. This is her story:

"I went through a severe depression for two years. It was as though I was living in hell, "I had a particularly difficult menopause. My children were grown up, one of them had gone overseas for studies and I was feeling quite lost. Other problems also cropped up and soon things got out of control. "I would cry at the slightest things, such as when I felt my husband was not looking at me in what I deemed was the proper way. I also felt that he was not helping me enough when in actual fact he was very caring throughout my depression.

"Ironically, I was always motivating my children to work hard and be successful in life, but I failed to practice it myself. "I was at a stage where I was not prepared to live but not ready to die either. " I even took an overdose of sleeping pills. This was at the worst stage of the depression, when I started to lose my appetite. I could not stand things like meat, fish and even chocolates as I started imaging worms coming out of them.

"Soon I was forced to seek psychiatric treatment. The medication helped to suppress the problem but it did not help overcome it. I was still edge and cried endlessly. "At one stage, I stopped work and though that if I stayed at home, things would improve but they only got worse. "Soon, I did not dare venture out alone, I only left house to go to the hospital, or when there was an absolute need. Even then, my husband and children had to come along.

"When my husband was transferred to Indonesia, I followed him. The change in scenery did me some good, but only for a while. "I was staying in a lovely house and did not lack any material things. But I was still unhappy and the depression was far from over. "I came back from Indonesia without much change. My husband took me on a holiday shortly after to make me feel better.

'This time, I returned with the resolution to take charge of my life and independent. It was going to be and uphill task but I was willing to try. "For too long I had suppressed my individuality. That, too was part of the problem. People only knew me as so-and-so's wife or so-and-so's mother. "I was free to develop my own self but I had no self-confidence.

"At this time I read about self-hypnosis courses offered by Astral Delta (M) Sdn Bhd and signed up. "Both my husband and son also attended the course as I did not dare go alone. What I learned changed my life completely. "I did self-hypnosis daily - it was like I was taking it as my lunch, breakfast and dinner - and soon thinking positive came naturally. "I set a target of setting out to work within two months and was able to achieve this. Then I wanted to move on to be my own boss. This, too I have done. I am now a businesswoman.

"I could have saved my-self two years of hell if I had gone for self-hypnosis earlier and learned to control the negative thoughts that caused my depression. "I want my story to help others in the similar plight. "Now, I am a happier person. I used to call up my friends for a shoulder to cry on, I still call them now only this time, I am full of laughter."

N. Pathmarajah, who used to suffer from insomnia, has this to say:

"The suggestions from (hypnotherapist) Goh Chooi Chin are very effective and they go straight to the mind, repelling the negative thoughts.

"I suffered from insomnia for 17 years mainly due to my negative attitudes. I went for three sessions and am now able to sleep well.

Hypnotism is now suggested as a healing method for many human problems. Noryani Ismail figures out its workings.

AZILA (NOT HER REAL NAME) is a middle-aged woman who suffered from severe depression. She could not go out from the house alone for fear that people would harm her.

She could not even eat as she would 'see' worms oozing out of her food. Just a few days before she was to be admitted tot he Tanjung Rambutan mental hospital, she went to a self-hypnosis course which literally saved her. Now, Azila leads a normal life and even has a business of her own.

To many, hypnotism is till a mystery - somewhere along the lines of magical powers and superstitions. As a result, "Oh no! What if a crook hypnotised me into giving him or her my money?", becomes quite a common reaction for a person who does not understand hypnotism.

To Goh Chooi Chin , a certified member of the US national Board of Hypnosis Education and Certification, there is a perfectly logical explanation for hypnotism.

In essence she explained: "All hypnosis is self-hypnosis. You can't hypnotise someone without his or her consent." Besides, in contrast to the popular belief that a person is unconscious when under hypnosis, hypnosis actually means a heightened state of awareness or an extension of concentration.

The principles of hypnosis, which is a part of the Auto Suggestive Science, she said, can be easily understood once one appreciates the workings of the human mind. "It's got to do with the part of the mind that is awesomely powerful and that's the subconscious mind," she explains.

Personally trained by Dr. Gil Boyne who was dubbed as the father of hypnosis, Goh brought the art and science of self-hypnosis to Malaysia in 1994 to help people by teaching them self-hypnosis.

"My job is to explain so that people would understand that hypnosis is perfectly harmless and a natural art of getting back their self-control. People have this ability and capability inside their own mind to become powerful again, to be in charge of their lives again, in control again and they don't need to rely on anybody else," she said.

Hypnosis can help people learn how to alleviate problems from as little as fear of public speaking to as big and serious as cancer. No way?

Yes, according to Goh, in a hypnotherapy session, a cancer patient was asked to imagine that his white blood cells were fighting a battle with the cancer cells and winning. After a few minutes every day, his doctor confirmed that his cancer cells had indeed regressed. Goh became a student and teacher herself after being cured of insomnia by the technique.

Goh admitted that hypnosis is not very widely accepted by the medical faculty. Nonetheless, it has won recognition as a form of therapy from the Health Ministry.

In fact, Goh has been working with some private hospitals to help mothers undergo painless childbirth through hypnosis. Hypnosis is actually taking the you-are-what-you-think phenomenon to the extreme. "Since we were children, we were taught that childbirth is very painful and therefore our subconscious mind believes in this. Through hypnosis, we can 'reprogramme' the subconscious mind to believe that childbirth is a loving and beautiful experience." She explains.

No amount of explanation could change the opinion of sceptics of course, that to see or experience it for themselves (as the writer did).

In a self-hypnosis workshop held recently, Goh actually rubbed the back of a participant's hand during hypnosis, and told her not to feel pain on that particular spot. Eagerly, other participants pinched that spot on her hand and she did not even wince. When she 'woke-up' from hypnosis and was asked how she felt when the others were pinching her, she said: "Pinching me? I thought they were just pulling my skins, it was not painful."

Bizarre? Not really, since the human brain naturally produces a pain-relieving chemical compound called endorphin.

In fact, before anaesthesia was discovered in 1853, Dr. James Esdaile of Edinburgh had used hypnosis on more than 2,000 patients during surgery. However, when anaesthesia was found and hypnosis still not understood. Dr. Esdaile was shunned by the medical community and hypnosis labeled as witchcraft.

Goh says hypnosis has been gaining some of the respect and attention it deserves but by many different names.

"Over the last 30 years or so, new age gurus have came up with all kinds of names like primal screen, bio feed-back, nenurolinguistics programming or subliminal dynamics. All these use the basic principles of hypnotism, without having to use this bad word called hypnosis," she said.

The most common cases of problems of people seeking her help include low self-esteem, depression and stress. These problems had actually arisen These problems had actually arisen from life conditioning (also known as hidden hypnosis) and can be turned around by hypnotism. Human habits are also the factors of hidden hypnosis such as trust or distrust in other people, self-confidence or self doubt, creative expression, friendliness and even sexual identity and gender confusion. :From day one, you were hypnotised by your mother and you your surroundings.

"If she kept telling you as a child that you were lazy and good for nothing, that's what you will believe. And you will lack self-confidence," she explains.

A person who believes that the HIV virus will not kill him or her will lead a healthy and longer life than a person who gets depressed after contacting the virus.

Understanding Your Mind

IN THE STUDY OF hypnotherapy, it is believed that human beings are equipped with three types of mind: the conscious mind and the unconscious mind. The unconscious mind, which controls the automatic functions of the body and immune system however, is not the concern of hypnotism. The conscious mind or the outer mind, plays the analytical and judgemental role, says Goh Chooi Chin .

"For example, when you are listening to me, you use your conscious mind to analyse and judge what I am saying: the truth, half-truth or a non-truth," she explains. The conscious mind also holds temporary memory. IT enables people to remember only enough things so that they can get by for the day. The will power is a part of the conscious mind that is very strong and it comes from life conditioning. The will power works in a strange way in that "if you want to stop smoking, the more you try, the more you fail," she says.

Just to understand how it works, why not try this: DO NOT think of a big blue elephant. (Okay, now was that elephant you did not think about dark blue or light blue? See, it's your will power at work). Therefore, smokers could only cut their habit for a short term when using will power. To stop for good, they need to look into the subconscious mind. The subconscious mind, the most powerful part of the human mind, contains 93% of one's intellectual capacity. All works of hypnotism can only be done by bypassing the conscious mind to gain access to the subconscious mind.

"We have the method of teaching you how to relax your mind. Once you're in there (sub-conscious mind) you can make changes and reprogramme it," explained Goh. The subconscious is also the core of a person's permanent memory.

"Inside the subconscious mind, there is like a video camera that records everything from day one when your were born. So, you actually remember everything you have experienced from your five senses and your intuitive sense," said Goh. Thus, forensic hypnotherapy is for people to recall vital clues for police investigations.

A person's personality is also formed as a total of life experiences recorded in the permanent memory. The sub-conscious mind is also "a lazy mind" or a mind of a child which does not contain any reasoning, analytical and judgemental factor, It carries the imagination. And only the imagination can defeat the will power, said Goh. "The excitement in the imagination of the subconscious gives the tremendous power of materialising a goal physically," she said

For example, she said, even though people know in their will power that they should not kill, Nazism had created an imagination that the Jews were dangerous and should be terminated from the face of the earth. The Nazis then translated this imagination into action.

On smoking, a person should imagine a cigarette as poison, develop hate for the smell of burnt tobacco, the taste of nicotine and the stain of tar. Gradually, this belief will then translate into the action of not smoking.

The subconscious mind also plays the self-preservation role, which is the core of spiritual and moral beliefs. The self-preservation function is to screen out tall suggestions contrary to one's own spirituality.

Business Times, News Straits Times : Women In Business - June, 1994
Early Venture Into Computer Graphics Pays Off For Goh

By Jennifer Jacobs

BILLY JOEL's song "Always a Woman" would probably best describe Goh Chooi Chin, the woman who sits at the helm of one of the first computer graphics companies in Malaysia, Digiart Graphics.

Like the woman in the song "she can win if she wants and she's ahead of her time". This winsome, petite woman with a deceptive "little girl" look, co-founded Digiart, one of the pioneering computer graphics companies in Malaysia, with her husband in 1986, at a time when the technology was relatively unknown.

As luck would have it, soon after the company had begun operations, the country was plunged into recession. Down but not out, she doggedly pursued the dream, knocking on doors and making presentations, to explain the cutting edge technology and how it would soon make other creative media obsolete.

And despite the economic slump, she can proudly declare that the company has never been in the red. As she says, "when I set my mind on anything I make sure it's successful," she asserted confidently.

That is why Goh, a graduate in graphics design from UK, won numerous awards, while in school and university. She scoffed however, at being referred to as a super-achiever pointing out that she is "just an achiever".

The company has grown and computer graphics has become a very popular media in the creative industry. She goes on an annual "shopping spree" every year to the US to pick up the latest technology, so that the company is always abreast of the latest developments in the industry.

Digiart, which started out as a two-person concern, now employs some 20 people mostly in the creative field and has four other companies in its stable - Precicrest Sdn Bhd, Digiart Productions, HAS (Hear and See) Multimedia Production House and Astral Delta.

Starting out with making slides for presentations, it now deals in putting together brochures and corporate videos. In fact, at present video productions provides the bulk of its business.

Goh said the company is now making its largest investment of about RM700,000 in a computer graphics workstation, the Softimage, the same type of work station that was responsible for creating the dinosaurs in block-buster Jurassic Park.

Astral Delta, is Goh's latest "baby" and the only company in the group that she does not share with her husband, as it is a great diversion from the groups main business. It deals in hypnotherapy and was the result of her long-term insomnia because of the pressure from her hectic lifestyle. She poured money and time into trying to find a cure, going from practising yoga to transcendental meditation.

However, nothing really worked 100 per cent until she stumbled upon an advertisement about hypnotherapy. She went for the course, and in a short time was cured of her insomnia. Goh was so fascinated by hypnotherapy that she started a company and wrote to the world guru himself, Gil Boyne, who is better known as the "hypnotist to the Hollywood stars". The chances of him even reading or replying to her letter were slim so imagine her surprise, when he not only faxed her an answer but actually called her up from California.

It so happened that just after receiving the letter, he attended the World Hypnotherapist Conference in the US, and when he inquired who this Goh girl in Malaysia was, three of the hypnotherapists (including Goh's trainer) gave her a glowing review.

When Boyne called Goh up, he told her that he asked her to be his protégé in Malaysia, just as he had made Brian Head, a famous hypnotherapist and the only one in the world with an ISO 9002 certification for his training programme, his protégé in New Zealand.

Goh admits that she has a tough fight ahead because of the misconceptions facing this particular form of therapy, which though effective, has been largely slandered by "Hollywoodised Hypnotism" and portrayed as a subtle form of mind control.

HYPNOTHERAPY may have played a prominent role in enhancing athletic performance in the west for over two decades but it is still being met with much scepticism in Malaysia. Basically, hypnotherapy is the art of programming the sub-conscious mind to reach higher levels of performance through the use of imagination and visualisation.

An athlete cultivates a state of deep relaxation and concentration through breathing and puts himself in a positive frame of mind. He will try to picture himself performing confidently and winning. This psyches him up to perform better.

"You can call it a sort of mental rehearsal before competition," said hypnotist Goh Chooi Chin, who gave a talk on this subject at the Wisma OCM recently where about 30 local athletes, coaches and officials attended. "Once the exercise becomes a habit, his/her performances will be less distracted by tension, fear or nervousness."

Chooi Chin, who has trained under American celebrity hypnotist Dr. Gil Boyne, believes there is a lot to be tapped from it. "In the West, hypnotherapy is widely used to help athletes to cope with the stress of competition and overcome tension. Here, its application is limited to business organisations to help employees manage stress and increase productivity." She said that hypnotherapy could play a bigger role in sports if more local coaches and athletes were aware of its benefits. "Many are still sceptical about the mind over matter concept. This is what hinders many of them."

Hypnotherapy, it seems can only be effective if the athlete voluntarily allows himself to be 'hypnotised'. "It's not possible to force an athlete to accept it. For it to be effective, the athlete must have faith in it." She said. Top sports figures who have benefited from hypnotherapy include tennis great Jimmy Connors and world champion cyclist Gary Sutton. Connors claimed he played his best tennis when he defeated Bjorn Borg of Sweden in the Australian Open final in 1978 after seeking the counsel of renowned sports psychologist and hypnotherapist, Les Cunningham. Before that, he was often tense. As a result, he lost many big matches. To solve this, Connors was taught how to programme his mind to play each point in the game as if it was the last. The technique worked and he was able to overcome Borg 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 in that faithful match, where he was the underdog. Sutton also turned to Cunningham to cure himself of the feelings of nervousness and diffidence he encountered before major races. After several hypnotherapy sessions, her soon solved this problem and began to win big races.

The US canoeing team also used hypnotherapy with great success to beat the East Europeans in this sport in the late 80's. Mental Trainer Datuk Lawrence Chan said local athletes should also practice role modelling. "This is quite common in the west," said Lawrence, who worked with the National Hockey Team in 1979. "For instance, Carl Lewis' hero was Jesse Owens. He emulated him the best way he could. As a result, he also did well. Our athletes should also try to follow people who have been successful."

Lawrence, a former BAM-Project 1988-90 sports psychologist, also guides athletes on how to be more creative and innovative during competition. To help athletes to concentrate better, he also uses techniques like relaxation and mental visualisation. "We've made progress on the technical and physical side of sports but the mental training of athletes needs to be given more attention," he said "Our athletes tend to underestimate their own abilities. For example, take the recent Asian Track and Field meet in Jakarta. We went there with no big goals. We ended up with no major win. "Local athletes need to think big and believe more in themselves. It's only through positive thinking that they can overcome this problem." Lawrence said that local coaches and athletes had not fully grasped the importance of sports psychology.

Our psychological make-up varies from one person to another, That is why we respond differently to the same stimuli. That is also why we need different means to relax and 'let ourselves go'.

Some of the us resort to yoga, tai-chi, swimming, riding etc, to relax and hypnotherapist Goh Chooi Chin agree that while these forms of relaxation could be ideal form of escapism for some, yet others needed a deeper form of therapy to really 'let themselves go' and relax.

Goh who is qualified I graphic design, got into this business while trying to get rid of her insomnia. She went for hypnotherapy under Dr. Gil Boyne (dubbed 'Father of Hypnosis') and found the results astounding. It helped her so much that she decided to share the secrets to a healthier life style with others.

Goh contends: "Nowadays, more and more people are taking on jobs that are constantly on the go and in time; the physical body actually 'burns out' and that is when the deeper self (self-conscience) come into play and when used correctly balances the disorder and helps people see things in the correct perspective again".

Why hypnosis and not say self-motivation or positive thinking?

"Not everybody can handle their stress by positive thinking. Some people have deeper rooted problems that often surface in some form of physical problem, They suddenly suffer from severe migraines, skin problems, insomnia and a host of other problems.

They immediately go to the general practitioner who treat their symptoms. The problem goes off but then it recurs. So, where do they go from here? They have to get to the root of their problems which I believe lies deep in their sub-conscience, she says. Hypnotism is an extension of concentration, a deep state of relaxation, by-passing the 'conscious mind'. This is the stage of complete attention when suggestive ideas or the powers of suggestion come into play. Hypnosis is a voluntary state. It is not possible to force a person into hypnosis and while hypnotised, it is just as impossible to force someone to do something against his will she stresses.

During hypnosis, ideas like, you are feeling totally relaxed', you are happy,' and other revitalising thoughts are put across to the person.

Goh says: "It really works. What I do is not a gimmick or a stage stunt. I genuinely believe that the mind is a fantastic 'computer' and if programmed correctly, it will produce tremendous results. Thoughts are like 'software'. Put in the correct thoughts and the output is also correct.

Most people find the results of hypnotherapy exhilarating and work at what they have learnt at the beginning but what about the long term effects? Does it last or does it simply fizzle out?

Goh says that because self-therapy comes from within, most people can help themselves after learning the art.

Hypnotherapy helps people balance their lives, physically, intellectually and spiritually which improving attitudes, achieving greater self-confidence, managing stress, adopting good habits and kicking bad ones, coping with pain, injuries and bereavements and increasing daily performance in work and play.

It helps people realise their full potential. And, unquestionably people who are working and living at their full potential are happy and relaxed.

However, the success rate depends on the individual and how consistent one is in practising what has bee imparted to them.

Bad habits and negative attitudes can be overcome if you are prepared to believe that hypnotism is the answer to your problems. Our writer Lye Mei Yoke finds out from Ms. Goh Chooi Chin, who holds certifications of Master Hypnotist and Diploma of Hypnotherapy, the healthy benefits of hypnotism.

It has been said that hypnotism brings about a profound state of relaxation. It dies not require you to lose control of your faculties and you will be aware of what is happening. People who are tense with psychological and medical problems learn to relax deeply, thus reducing their distress.

Also, hypnosis is associated with hypersuggestibility. Which is to say that you'll accept instruction or suggestion at a deeper level of consciousness. Such instruction can be dedicated to improve your health or solving another problem. You will only accept suggestions given with your permission and for your own benefit.

According to Chooi Chin, a reluctant person cannot be hypnotised against his will. The hypnotic process is a very delicate one; requiring a mixture of high patient motivation, trust and confidence in the hypnotist and a good measure of hypnotizability, which is present more or less in people. Thus if you truly want to get rid of bad habits such as smoking, alcoholism, depression, anxiety etc, you must place yourself implicity in the hands of the hypnotist.

Chooi Chin, a qualified graphic designer, is a creative director of her own company. Digiart Productions, Chooi Chin recalls what started her on the road to be firmly committed to hypnotism was during a time when she was experiencing very bad insomnia for eight long years. "During this time, I tried every means to help me overcome this problem but in vain. However, when I turned to hypnotherapy, the insomnia gradually disappeared.

This sparked for me and interest to learn more about this art and at the same time, I felt I had a mission to impart this knowledge and skill to help others. She received training from Dr. Gil Boyne, the 'Father of Hypnosis' (California, USA), Brian Head (New Zealand), Valerie Austin (UK) and Gerald F Kein (Florida, USA).

Her unique programmes of Self-Hypnosis, Hypno-Motivation and Hypno-Sports use a methodology on the application of the unique principles of the basic laws of the mind through hypnosis to achieve remarkable results. Chooi Chin says: "I will ask my client what he or she wants to achieve and then I will teach her how to relax the mind and to replace negative thoughts and ideas with new, positive and constructive ways to advance in life."

So, If you want a more harmonious relationship with your office colleagues or to smother the last cigarette for the rest of your life, you can do it. Just believe in yourself and as the say, half the battle is won. The rest, you leave it to the guiding hand so the hypnotist. The phrase, 'Mission Impossible' is not in Chooi Chin's vocabulary but she emphasizes that the person must be truly committed to connect with the inner-self to tap the vast intellectual potential that lies dormant in the subconscious inner mind. And only then can the person be helped.

Another interesting development of her programme is the 'Painless childbirth' self-hypnosis. Chooi Chin contends that most of us are conditioned to believe that natural childbirth is a difficult and painful experience. But it's not meant to be. She tells of a true story of an American parachutist who landed himself in the paddy field of a village in Asia during the Korean War. While hiding in the nearby jungle, he chanced upon a pregnant woman merely took it upon herself to squat down and with a heave-and-a-ho, along with the help of a co-worker, delivered the baby safely.

Then without much ado, the baby was taken away by the co-worker while the mother simply tidied herself and continued with her work in the paddy fields. Amazing indeed but according to Chooi-Chin, the point to be noted is that labour should not be looked upon as a hard and painful exercise but rather as an experience of warm, loving contractions to expel the baby. Far too often, many of us are too tense and nervous to think about anything else except the pain we are conditioned to think will occur.

Chooi-Chin says: "Through hypnotherapy we teach women that labour is a natural process and there's nothing to fear except fear itself. By using self-hypnosis, the woman learns to anaethesises any part of her body selectively - from the breast down to the thighs during labour. Once she is in control of herself and being in a relaxed state of mind, the birth canal is not constricted, thus allowing the birth canal to open up naturally and thereby enabling her to have an easier delivery. Also, the labour period is shortened." In USA, she says that patients who use this method are able to return home on the same day that the delivery took place. She adds that another benefit is that babies born without trauma, are brighter and more confident.

To ensure that this approach is effective, Chooi-Chin says that a course of five sessions of hypnotherapy is necessary with each session lasting 2 hours. The husband can join the wife at the last session to help her relax.

Hypnosis can also help you accomplish to lose unwanted pounds. While there are hundreds of diet foods and fads, nothing seem to work permanently. People invariably gain back the weight they have lost. Maintenance of a trim figure seems to be such a problem. With hypnosis, you can lose weight, still feel fit and enjoy great vitality. When we eat we have feelings about food and these feelings are one of the reasons why we remain overweight.

When you change your feelings about food, then you'd feel differently about food and then you'll be able to make decisions about what you eat and the way you eat. You can transform your feelings most rapidly with hypnotherapy. It may instil a permanent desire to eat slimming foods and to feel satisfied with those foods. The days of craving for fattening, body swelling foods could be over. And you'll have a new figure that can only be an attractive one.

Hypnosis can be an effective means of changing your life for the better. Your personal growth becomes more positive and you can successfully cope with specific problems such as controlling the urge to pulverize a motorist who mindlessly zipped onto your lane without so much as by-your-leave. Life can become so much more healthier, pleasant and fun once you're convinced you can control your bad habits and not the other way round.

E: oh it was doubly good to get your email. i've been thinking of you constantly since then (the Hypnosis talk & demonstration in Chiangmai) and wondering what you've been doing to either (a) get
into trouble (exactly what, i can't imagine!),

C: Oh yes, I always get into trouble trusting & loving people too much! Being rather too right-brain there's this tendency to 'see' more of the good in the bad...

E: or more likely (b) keep yourself and help keep others out of trouble! i'm sure that whatever the
answers to this question are, vast expenditures of energy and very good intentions will be a major part of them.

C: You are right, spot on! There's just got to be genuine altruistic intentions to start off with. So much so that I forgot myself, I've become a channel! The 'self' is often neglected. So who says hypnosis is harmful?

E: By now you should have received a cc of my email to rachel flower re various aspects of her experience when you "put her down" at the silver dove conference.

C: Yes, I have. Made me laugh so loud when you wrote about Zae mounting Rachel - and she did, very clumsily, to my dismay. I thought Zae slipping over Rachel's unsupported torso so unceremoniously would wake her up from hypnosis, but no she didn't! She was dead-wood to the world!

E: I'd also like to query you a bit, if I may. your and her answers may be incorporated into a longer piece about you, your demonstration, and hypnotism that I'm trying to work up for the April issue of GOOD MORNING CHIANG MAI. Sure thing. Super! I'll do whatever I can to help make this article an ace of articles!
1. what was going through your mind as you "took her down", "kept her down", and "brought her back"?

C: There's no ego in this business. We need to demonstrate to prove the point. The induction requires a good rapport between hypnotist and subject, the 'hypnotic-contract' is established as soon as the hypnotist gets the 100 % consent-state from the subject, that comes from sensing the good intention from the hypnotist.

In shifting gear, it then becomes a synergy of the frequency of thought vibrations as in the common intent in 'One-consciousness' at the sub-conscious level, to manifest the mind-over-body phenomenon, between the two. There's absolutely no thoughts about self whatsoever.

I have become a channel for the process... No logic-bound judgment, no rationalising, no analysis, for these are the critical factors of the conscious mind. In other words, both are working on the subconscious level. Well, we've got to meet somewhere in consciousness, if she's in her subconscious level, I must be there too, eh? I, as a clear channel, was in waking hypnosis, dare I say so.

E: 2. what specific training should one have to qualify as a hypnotherapist?

C: Now, this is one difficult question to handle on the conscious, left-brain level of explanation. On the rationale part of the answer, one has to take up a series of training courses that are with certification by accredited Hypnotism Institutions conducted by reputable & renowned Master trainers.

These courses starts from self-hypnotism ones to the basic, intermediate and advance levels on becoming a Master Hypnotist and then on to being a Certified Hypnotherapist. Practicing the art consistently is essential to establish both the skill and the confidence to apply.

Experience that comes from constant practice gives the hypnotherapist the edge to handle the multi-diversity of cases presented. Every case is different. The hypnotherapist must have many good attributes to heal effectively. Apart from the genuineness of the intention to heal, administered with love without judgement, there must be good rapport bringing out the trust in the ssubject. This is the therapy of the people, we heal hand to hand, heart to heart, and mind to mind. We heal with love.

Educating the clients to dispel the misconception first is absolutely necessary before the induction takes place. Then the rest comes from the training, resourcefulness, creativity and experience to deal with the case on hand. One must know how to excite the imagination of the subconscious to be effective. Creative imagination is an essential tool.

This is a holistic healing modality. Therefore, it is also considered spiritual (healing), in the esoteric sense, even though it has been categorized as a science. Hypnotism is known as the Auto-Suggestive Science. It's spiritual when you'll accept into your belief system, the hypnotherapist/hypnotist as the clear channel of natural healing energy force...

E: 3. how long have you been practising?

C: Again, if this question is not limited to the 3D physical level, I'll say I've been practising for many life-times as told to me by the psychics & clairvoyants. I didn't go to see them, they volunteered when my life took a turn (hesitantly) into holistic healing, just to encourage me to do the work and stay. Based on the dense 3D physical logic, in this lifetime, I've only started practising and teaching in mid-1994, so just 7 years.

E: 4. before you qualified as a hypnotherapist, did you study/read some related subject such as psychology or biology anywhere?

C: No. It was like, it's time to assume this role, and step into my 'mission'. There's an inner knowing that won't protest, acknowledging the part of the blue print in my destiny. I flowed naturally into it. So naturally that when I was taking my first practical exams in Gerald Kein's class on Florida, I surprised everybody when I instantaneously hypnotised the subject and successfully broke a hypnotic seal on the subject.

E: 5. Considering susceptibility of people in general to hypnosis, i would assume unless you inform me otherwise that this susceptibility must be distributed something like the classic bell-shaped curve in statistics, where most people, those of average susceptibility, fall into the middle with a few at either ends representing those with maximal and minimal susceptibility. am i right?

C: Yes you're right only if you use the word suggestibility rather than susceptibility with regards to hypnosis. There's a difference. Susceptibility is a negative word, that does not work with the intelligent and the awesomely powerful subconscious mind, at all!

Hypnotism is about the power of suggestion. So suggestibility is the order of the day, and it has nothing to do with susceptibility. Remember that the definition of hypnotism is just an extension of your concentration power when ideas possess your complete attention? Such ideas then act as the power of suggestion in such a state.

E: fyi, you have inspired ("telehypnotized me"??!!) to do some reading. from libraries at Chiang Mai University. I have acquired photocopies of relevant pages about hypnotism from a 1966 set of the Encyclopaedia Americana and 4 books: (1) Ericksonian approaches to hypnosis and psychotherapy, 1982: (2) the answer within: a clinical framework of ericksonian hynotherapy, 1983; (3) the new hypnosis, 1985; and (4) handbook of hypnosis for professionals, 1981. Not cutting edge, perhaps, but more than enough for a neophyte such as myself. have what feels like a lifetime more of things i'd like to communicate with you, but......!